Always Learning Something

A lot has changed in the iPhone App Advertising space in the past couple years.

First, you didn’t have to advertise much. In the first few months the app store was open, just creating a great lite and paid app, and updating it often worked really well. There were relatively few apps being updated often, so that added exposure could give you a nice boost in downloads. After the first 3-6 months, I think that strategy got tougher and tougher. Many more apps were being added daily.

Second, you could get a small combination of marketing activities (PR, iPhone app review sites, forum posts, and Youtube reviewers) together and this could give you a nice lift in ranking to launch your initial app. I’d say this worked in the first 12 months after iTunes was launched.

After 12 months it became increasingly harder to market your app with out spending advertising dollars.

So where do you spend advertising dollars today to marketing iPhone apps?

You might try:

Ad Networks

Incentivized Download Companies

Promotional Companies

There are pros/cons to all of these. Let me know give you an overview of each and what I see as their pros and cons.

iPhone Ad Networks

Here are some things you should know about iPhone Ad Networks:

These iPhone ad networks promote your app in other iPhone apps

Examples of these ad networks include Admob, Millennial Media, and iAds

You pay these iPhone ad networks typically per click (~ $.05/click minimum for Admob and $.25/click for iAds)

They have the ability to track how many downloads they generate for you

You run a test with them, say $500-$1,000 to see if they can help you achieve your cost/download goal

iPhone Ad Network Pros

Here are what I see as the pros to working with iPhone Ad Networks:

Relatively easy to get set up

You can spend as little as $50 with Admob (but will need to spend more if you want a true test)

Most of the time (iAds not included) you don’t have a big $$$ commitment

iPhone Ad Network Cons

Here are what I see as the cons to working with iPhone Ad Networks:

You don’t always get the results you want*

Driving more downloads doesn’t mean you are driving revenue

Some of these ad networks, iAds for example, have minimum spend commitments

* Typically you spend in order to increase your downloads, which increases your rank, which increases your organic downloads. I’ve seen this work. Unfortunately, I also know of developers that have spent $75 and did not seen a single download.

Incentivized Download Companies

Here is how they work:

These companies promote your app in other apps (user is given the chance to download your app in exchange for something they want)

Important note: In April 2011 Apple began to reject apps that promoted incentivized downloads. So, although you can still work with these companies, this form of advertising looks like it’s going away.

Here are what I see as the pros to working with iPhone Ad Networks:

Also fairly easy to set up

You can increase your ranking quickly if you have $$$ to spend

Many of these companies can promote iPhone and Android apps

Incentivized Download Company Cons

Here are what I see as the cons to working with iPhone Ad Networks:

#1 con – looks like this type of advertising is going away

You are not really driving “real” users*

Since these users might not want your app, it could negatively impact your star ratings

* So if you don’t drive up your rank enough to get a lot more organic downloads, it’ll not be worth it. These people weren’t looking for your app. They wanted something else and had to download your app to get it.

Promotional Companies

I call them promotional companies because they have some unique way of promoting your app. The best of these offer something that consumers like and help developers drive ranking through a big spike in downloads.

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